Sharapova reveals her Mount Rushmore of women’s tennis icons

“And it’s not even about power, because after like 110 miles an hour in women’s tennis, if it’s 120 it doesn’t matter, but it is so accurately placed, on the biggest of points.

“And that is the biggest difference. It’s all about the little margins. And you feel it. When you play against her, first point of every set she’s serving wide.

“I think she kind of gets in the rhythm, but it doesn’t matter because the serve is so good even though you know it’s going there; it doesn’t matter. I got to experience that greatness every single time.”

Steffi Graf

The German star won an astonishing 22 Grand Slam titles between 1987 and 1999 and remains one of only three players in history to have achieved a Golden Slam — holding all four major titles as well as Olympic gold — which she did in 1988.

Monica Seles

Sharapova went on to say: “Number two, I’m going to say Monica Seles. I played her twice, and I remember this one match specifically at the beginning of my career in Palm Springs.

“I’m very young, I had a wildcard. I win my first round. I draw Monica. I lose, I think it was like one and one, one and 0.

“And she smoked me, like I wasn’t even there. I didn’t belong there, nothing. And I didn’t even cry because the level was so far.

“I was 15/16, it was like my first wildcard in a big event, and I’ve just come off the court and thought ‘Well, I guess that’s greatness, and this is how far I have to go’.”

Steffi Graf

“My third is Steffi Graf,” she continued. “Things I liked about her is that she was someone that was all in, there were no distractions.

“I feel like so many stars today, they’re faced with opportunities, they’re doing things off the court, and a lot of that is great.

“But when I think of Steffi, I think of the ultimate professional. It leads to greatness. Very stoic, just very calm.

“Nothing seems to faze her, like, just very professional about how she goes. And that was inspiring, right?

“Because when you get to the top and you look at greats, like how did they handle success? She was an example. And that slice, I mean, I would have hated to play against that slice.”

Chris Evert

Rounding out her picks, Sharapova added: “My last one is Chrissie Evert.

“I’ve gotten to know Chrissie since retiring. She was always on my mood board when I was designing looks with Nike.

“She was class, but she brought an element to the game that I think transcended just being a champion.”

It’s a strong list from the Russian, who had no shortage of quality names to choose from after a career spent competing against many of the game’s best players.

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